Powerglide's alt mode
is a plane highly resembling an A-10 Warthog, and is a very obvious homage
(movieverse update?) to the original G1 character. In this mode, the proportions
are very close to being realistic, the only real exception to this being
that the rear engines are a tad too small proportionally. There's also
one (well, two, really) obvious robot extras-- the upper legs can plainly
be seen behind the wings leading up to the rear engines. There's also a
bit of "undercarriage junk" underneath the main wings, but most of these
are Powerglide's detachable missile accessories and the parts that are
actually his arms fit in so well size-wise with the surrounding parts they
don't stand out as much as they would otherwise. The mold detailing for
Powerglide's alt mode, particularly at this scale, is fantastic-- beyond
the usual lines 'n such you'd expect to see on a Warthog plane, there's
even tiny little "rivet" details everywhere-- truly awesome. The color
scheme of dark red and a brownish gray doesn't exactly strike me as cool,
but it is both rather realistic and accurate to G1 Powerglide, so there's
that. The silver stripes on the main wings and down the sides of the rear
engines help to give him a bit more color variety, at least. Powerglide
also has three separate fold-out landing gear (though at this scale they
aren't actual wheels, natch). Folding them out reveals a slight imbalance
flaw for this mode, though-- it's a bit back-heavy, so putting him on a
level surface with his gear out makes him tip backwards a bit.
Powerglide's robot mode
is a bit weaker than his plane mode, unfortunately. The main concern here
is alt mode kibble, of which there's a fair amount-- the big ones are the
main wings, which just hang off his lower arms unceremoniously and impede
movement a bit. On lesser notes, there's halves of the back part of his
plane mode on the inside of his lower legs, and the nosecone hangs out
horizontally behind his head, but at least these don't get in the way of
articulation. The proportions are generally pretty good, however, if you
ignore the kibble-- the feet are too slim and long, but otherwise he looks
pretty good in that respect. He's also got a TON of mold detailing on his
robot parts, to the point where it's almost too much-- on his face in particular
it seems like the details may bleed together a little. The increased amounts
of silver and light metallic silvery blue paint in this mode give him a
bit more color variation, though. As for weaponry, the missile pieces underneath
his wings can be popped out and be held in his fists in this mode, though
it's not the most stable of grips. I prefer to stick them in the small
peg holes on his lower arms, making it look like they're pop-out arm weapons.
Powerglide's articulation is pretty good-- he can move at the shoulders
(at two points), elbows, slightly inward at the wrists, and can also move
at the hips, knees, and (due to the transformation) a bit back-and-forth
at a point slightly above the ankles. Most of these joints are ball joints,
so combined with his large feet and lack of back-heaviness in this mode
you can get him into some pretty dynamic poses (keeping in mind that his
wings can impede elbow and shoulder movement a bit).
Dark of the Moon Powerglide
is a pretty decent "movieverse" version of the character, but a couple
of downsides in robot mode-- such as the amount of kibble-- keep him from
being a truly outstanding toy. His vehicle mode is great, though, and this
release should please any fan of the character or A-10 Warthogs that can
at the very least tolerate the movieverse aesthetic being "lightly" applied
to a G1 character.
Review by Beastbot